Page 1 of Cold as Hell

PROLOGUE

As Kendra stumbles onto her residence porch, she tries to recall how much she had to drink. The answer should be easy. Two beers consumed over two hours, which should not make her drunk. The second one had been a black velvet, combining beer and wine—totally Yolanda’s fault for ordering a round—but still, that wouldn’t even put Kendra over the legal driving limit. Not that driving matters in Haven’s Rock, where there are no cars. The point is that two drinks over two hours should not have her tripping over her own feet.

The problem, Kendra decides, is that even two beers is more than she’s had since college. Kendra’s idea of “going out drinking” means she goes out and has a drink. One. She knows most people would blame this on her growing up Indigenous in the Canadian north. But, really, it’s just Kendra. She doesn’t mind a beer, but she’s just as happy with a soda. Unfortunately, there is no soda in Haven’s Rock.

Kendra stands on the porch and blinks. It’s past midnight and pitch-dark and freaking cold. Okay, she’s being a wimp about the cold. Haven’s Rock might be in the Yukon, but she grewup at a higher latitude, and for late March, they’ve actually been having a warm spell. Tonight, though, a fierce north wind slices right through her sweatshirt.

Sweatshirt? Where’s her parka? It might be a “warm spell” but it’s still hovering around zero.

Did she leave her parka in the Roc? Why would she do that?

Because she’s drunk.

Okay, but why is she on the residence porch instead of getting her ass inside where it’s warm?

Right. The bathroom situation.

The residence has three toilets, perfectly reasonable for a building designed to house a couple of dozen people. Kendra should know. During town construction, she’d been hired for her unique combination of talents—a social worker with extensive experience plumbing in a northern climate. They needed the plumber part and wanted someone to help with any psychological effects of the isolation. That was also why she’d been offered long-term employment after construction was done. Because a town with an off-grid sanitation system needs an on-site plumber, and a town this unique needs all the mental-health experts they can get.

Why is she thinking about her job right now?

Right. Because she needs to pee and there are no available toilets because residents flushed nonflushable items downtwoof them. The fixes require replacement parts. She’d also orderedextrareplacement parts for sanitation in a town with people accustomed to being able to flush whatever crap they wanted.

Damn it, she really needs to pee, and the Roc just closed, and she wasn’t fast enough getting back to snag a toilet, so now she’s left staring into the forest and considering her options.

Dropping her trousers in freezing weather should not be one of those options. Especially in a pitch-black forest. But it won’tbe the first time she’s done it. When you head out on the land to hunt, you don’t haul along a chemical toilet.

Still…

She should just wait for a stall to be free. How long can it take?

A moment later, Kendra finds herself on the edge of the forest and stops short. How did she get here? She was just on the deck, thinking she should wait it out.

Something’s wrong.

She shakes off the internal whisper. She’s drunk and not accustomed to being in that state.

You shouldn’t be blacking out after two drinks.

She didn’t black out. She’s just confused, and as long as the forest is right there, she might as well use it.

She takes two steps, and her foot slides in the melting snow. As she’s righting herself, she hears a crackle behind her, like a boot breaking through a skin of ice.

Kendra spins, and her foot slides right out from under her, and she collapses into the wet snow and—

She’s on her feet again. She goes still and looks around.

Did she imagine falling?

No, there’s the skid mark from her boot and the handprint from where she landed. When she clenches her fist, her fingers are wet.

Wait, where are her gloves?

Why is she outside without gloves or a parka, like some newbie to the north, thinkingI’m only walking a hundred feet?

Is it the booze, making her not feel the cold?

She remembers when she was in college, studying the “starlight tours” in Saskatoon, where police would drive drunk Indigenous men past the town limits and leave them there, often improperly dressed for the weather. Three froze to death.

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